In some ways, Ohio State is merely joining the crowd when it comes to its proposed pricing structure for football tickets.

In other ways, it is setting a precedent.

Today, the school’s Athletic Council is expected to recommend a proposal to shift away from the all-games-cost-the-same model it has always used. Prices for most games will rise from $70 to $79 based on the plan. So-called premier games would range from $110 for the less expensive of 2013’s two premium games to $175 for the one premier game in 2016, presumably against Michigan.

The university’s board of trustees will vote on the proposal late next week.

If adopted, Ohio State will join most elite programs in not charging the same price for every game. Michigan, Alabama, Notre Dame, LSU, Nebraska and Texas have shifted to that format. But the Buckeyes will be creating a new paradigm with other elements of the plan. Most schools have not announced ticket prices for 2013, let alone as far out as 2017, as the Athletic Council proposal does.

“I have never seen a program priced that far in advance,” said Barry Kahn, CEO of Qcue, an Austin, Texas, company that works with sports teams to set ticket prices. “I don’t know of any program that is already saying what 2014 season tickets are going to be.”

Kahn said that charging more for a marquee game such as Michigan makes sense. But he also said that his company advises clients to price the tickets for run-of-the-mill games so that the total cost for season-ticket holders doesn’t skyrocket.

“Raising prices significantly has risk,” Kahn said. “There’s no question. I wouldn’t say that the pricing structure creates a danger. I would say the danger is created by the aggregate increase on prices.”

Including the premier games, the average cost of a ticket for 2013 Ohio State home games would be $90. That’s 28.6 percent more than a 2012 ticket.

“That’s a rather steep increase across the board,” Kahn said. “Fortunately, Ohio State has always been a very strong brand, and there are a lot of people who are really behind it.”

The Athletic Council has recommended the increase because the athletic department believes that it’s needed to continue to fund its 36 sports teams without running a deficit.

One justification is that it comes closer to reflecting the price paid for Buckeyes tickets on resale markets such as StubHub.

Chris Matcovich, senior director of data and communications at TiqIQ, which tracks ticket prices on resale markets, said that Ohio State home games sold for the second-highest amount of any college football team in the country in 2012.The average price was $159.07, trailing only Texas A&M, whose tickets were in demand because of the novelty of its move to the Southeastern Conference and the Heisman Trophy-winning season of quarterback Johnny Manziel.

The final 1,000 tickets available on resale sites for the Ohio State-Michigan game sold for an average of $392.41, Matcovich said. The least expensive of those went for $207.

But those tickets proved so valuable because there were so few of them, Matcovich said. It’s basic supply and demand. He cautioned teams or programs against basing their pricing structure too much on what the secondary market has been.

TiqIQ worked with Oregon a couple of years ago to devise a price structure that would bring in more revenue while not alienating the Ducks’ fan base.Tickets to Oregon games in 2012 ranged from $39 against Tennessee Tech to $93 for the Washington and Stanford games.

A ticket to the Oklahoma-Texas game at the Cotton Bowl, with a face value of $110, is believed to have been the most expensive for a regular-season game last year.

Ohio State’s price tag for its premier games next year, probably for Wisconsin and Penn State, would exceed that. The 2014 Michigan game presumably would cost $150 and be $175 in 2016.

Kahn said it’s impossible to project what the market will bear several years in advance. Although he believes that having a premium price for the Michigan is justifiable, he added, “It would be a terrible thing if you ended up overestimating the value of those tickets, and all of a sudden you couldn’t sell out the Ohio State-Michigan game.”